"Go on! Take me home."
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✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴
Petrichor the Smell Before Rain
Man like other animals has inherited a fine sense of smell from ancestors who did not have technology to know things that would help them survive. The environment gives out smells when something changes. Because we now mostly live indoors these smells do not come to our attention. However, they still exist.
Before it begins to rain the air falls and oil is released from the earth. A special odour is notable. CSIRO has named this smell "petrichor". It seems no one had given it a named before. The particular smell was made public in 1964 when Isabel Bear wrote a paper which was published in Nature journal. Mineralogists were first aware of it and mentioned the odour in text books but little was made of the smell.
Aboriginals would have know of it because oils given off before rain are stronger after drought. The word "mattiak ka attar" is used in Asia to describe the odour trapped in sandalwood oil to enhance the perfume.
Scientists at CSIRO identified a yellowish colored oil on soil and rocks that was created by moisture. Humidity is the trigger: water droplets form in crevices thus leaching the oil. It becomes stronger when it actually rains. The smell gets into the wind and is picked up by mammals.
✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴
Bright Plumage in Male Birds to Attract Females is Proven
Some scientists are playing with the truth about colorful plumage in male birds. They are claiming that bright colors as well as dull colors in females are to assist in blending into the environment. This is rot. Bright colors always stand out from any background.
Because just under half of bird species have females with brighter plumage than males, this supposedly proves their case. Have they considered that females need to be attractive to males as well? They predict that bright plumage will be lost in evolution. It hasn't lost been so far and there is no support for this claim.
Female humans are different than males and it should stay this way. There is no evolutionary pressure for it not to continue. Birds are no different. The premise "that both natural selection and sexual selection were (are) influential to bird coloration" is not substantiated in their research. This is just an opinion. There is no proof. Indeed, evidence for this view is virtually nonexistent.
Evolution by Ty Buchanan ✴
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